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WASHINGTON – Powerful union bosses, including a key backer of Hillary Rodham Clinton, urged her to sack chief strategist Mark Penn just days before she axed him, it was revealed yesterday.

Clinton backer Gerald McEntee, who heads the powerful AFSCME union of government workers, says he told her that Penn needed to go.

“I talked to her on Saturday and asked her to do something about this Mark Penn fellow,” he said.

Penn had come under withering union criticism after it was revealed last week that he met with representatives of the government of Colombia to discuss a trade deal the country is promoting, even though Clinton opposes it.

Penn, who throughout the campaign has retained his role as president of Burson-Marsteller, a global p.r. firm, apologized for the meeting, and the Colombians nixed his firm’s $300,000 contract.

“He can’t wear two hats or three hats. He doesn’t even seem to be able to wear one hat,” McEntee said.

Even before the Colombia meeting, Penn had been on the outs with labor leaders because of anti-union tactics of Burson-Marsteller clients, which include defense contractor Blackwater.

But Penn was still taking part in campaign activities yesterday, prompting Teamsters President James Hoffa, who supports Barack Obama, to demand Clinton sever ties with Penn “completely” if she wants “any credibility” on the Colombia trade issue.

“There’s been warning signs about Mark Penn for over a year, and she’s been notified of it,” Hoffa said.

“You can’t have two masters. You can’t be taking money from anti-union employers, foreign nations like Colombia, at the same time advising potentially the president of the United States,” he said.

McEntee said that Penn’s continued role was “just kind of a way of saying goodbye” and that he wasn’t a big player anymore.

Penn has been a trusted adviser to the Clintons for more than a decade.

The unions are furious about the trade meeting because it came about just as they were gearing up to try to defeat the trade deal, which President Bush sent to Congress yesterday.

It also comes just two weeks before the Pennsylvania primary, where job losses linked to trade are a sensitive subject, and where Clinton’s lead has been narrowing.

Both are liked and respected in the campaign, unlike Penn, who had developed a long list of enemies inside the Clinton camp.

But Penn was still involved in campaign conference calls yesterday, a sign that new lines of authority were still being drawn.

Clinton has only a brief window of opportunity to turn around a contest in which her chances to catch Obama are diminishing. Yesterday, Obama extended his national lead over Clinton in the Gallup poll to 52-43.

“Removing Mark Penn from the center of that campaign will remove some of the controversy and allow everyone to focus on the task at hand, which is winning Pennsylvania by a significant margin and then on to North Carolina and Indiana,” said Democratic strategist Stephanie Cutter.

The campaign shakeup comes after a brutal period in which Clinton endured stories about her false claims about a trip to Bosnia under sniper fire, news that Obama out-raised her two-to-one in March, and the release of tax returns that revealed she and her husband had made more than $100 million after leaving the White House.

“If she doesn’t win Pennsylvania, she’s not going to be the nominee,” said Democratic strategist Steve Elmendorf, who supports Clinton.

McEntee said: “She should win Pennsylvania; I think she will win Pennsylvania. Whether or not if she loses Pennsylvania it’s the end, that’s for the candidate to decide.”